For a Time
by IlovetowriteSMP
Summary: Two one shots about Cooper and Maxie. COMPLETE
1. For a Time

**Do not read this story if you have to have a happy ending.**

_This was written for a one shot challenge at Soap Fan Fiction._

_The only reason I am not posting this within my Give Me Tonight one shot series is because I want this story to go into the Cooper and Maxie C2._

**_The challenge: Your favorite couple or characters are on the run from someone(s) who is after them._**

_Well my favorite couple is Jason and Carly from GH but I couldn't come up with a good reason they might be on the run. Jason could easily kill whoever was chasing them without much trouble. They could run from the cops but dragging along 2 or 3 kids would certainly slow them down._

_Anyway, I chose to write about** Maxie and Cooper **instead. Since I think it is getting harder and harder for that man to survive for much longer in Port Charles._

**For a Time**

"You can run or you can die. Don't think there are any other options left. There aren't. Now" his tone was harsh but his eyes were bright with unshed tears "...go."

Those words spoken by Logan Hayes sent his best friend fleeing from Port Charles. It was that or put a bullet into Cooper like Sonny had ordered. Or refuse and let Jason Morgan put one in both of them.

Logan risked his own life to save his friend. It wasn't the first time he had, and he would again in an instant. Cooper didn't even have to think about if he would do the same. He would lay his life down for Logan or Maxie or his country without hesitation. But he didn't want to die in some mob dispute that had nothing to do with him.

For too long now Cooper had been playing both sides of the fence. He hadn't meant to get stuck in the middle of Sonny and Jerry. He only wanted out but neither man offered that choice. Cooper walked the fine line for a month but eventually Sonny found out Cooper had helped to keep Jerry out of prison by stealing evidence from the PCPD. There was only one word the mob boss had for that- betrayal- and only one punishment that would do- death.

Without Logan's warning he would be dead right now. Cooper drove along the highway at 70 miles an hour putting mile after mile between him and Port Charles, as the sun fell from the sky and darkness engulfed the car.

She slept curled up in the passenger seat. He smiled at how innocent she looked, yet Maxie Jones was anything but that.

_Wild. Bold. Reckless. Intense. Loyal. Headstrong. Crazy. She's everything insane and beautiful in the world,_ he thought.

Cooper knew he should have left her behind. They had only known each other a few months. It shouldn't be so hard to imagine living without her already. But it was and now they were stuck racing away from upstate New York and trying to live long enough to kiss each other again, to lay together skin on skin, to make promises, and keep secrets, to love each other today and tomorrow and make some sort of life together.

He wanted to believe they could get away...disappear and never let the past catch up to them again...but Cooper wasn't sure that was really possible.

He could feel a clock ticking. It might already be too late.

( Who can say where the road goes?

Where the day flows?

Only time.

And who can say  
if your love grows?

As your heart shows.

Only time.) ( Enya)

XXXXXXXXX

**HOURS EARLIER**

_"Don't..." he warned, as he stood in his room above Kelly's. He held his suitcase in one hand, his other gripped hers. "say it. You can't come with me and I can't stay. Just accept it and know that...you made all my time here...precious to me...you made me feel like someone better than I am...I'll never forget all you've done for me or how you trusted me when I gave you every reason not to."_

_Most women would cry at that point. But her eyes only got more determined. "If you mean all that... then I think you must love me."_

_He whispered her name._

_She went on, "And if you do love me, Coop, then you can't go off and leave me. You have to stay or take me with you."_

_A thousand reasons why he couldn't do either filled his mind. Instead of speaking, he leaned down and caught her lips in a kiss that he intended to be their last. But she simply wasn't having that. She deepened the kiss, and soon it was filled with desperation as she silently begged him to find a way from them to be together._

_"I'm so sorry, baby," he said as he pulled away. Cooper started to walk past her. His hand closed around the doorknob and he stilled._

_  
He could hear angry sobs escaping her, even as she tried to hold them back._

_"Sorry doesn't do a damn thing for me," Maxie said "I love you. How can you do this to me? I was wrong, wasn't I? You don't love me at all."_

_"I love you enough to give you up. I might not even be alive for much longer, if Sonny catches up to me..."_

_"I want whatever time you have. I'll walk out of my life right now, without even packing a bag, if you say you love me, Cooper. Say it. Say you want me to come with you. Just say it, please! Or just go and forget you ever knew me cause if you walk out on me now I will never take you back. I'll hate you till the second I die. But I don't want to spend my life hating you...I want to love you...you're all I want...don't you want me anymore? If you love me the slightest bit..."_

_Though he knew it was selfish and wrong to put her into this mess he made, Cooper Barret simply couldn't stand to leave her like that._

_Turning around, he opened his arms and she rushed into them. He dropped his head to bury it in her hair. "If I love you, baby? Come on, now, you know... I've loved you all along...you didn't give me a lot of choice in that one...but it's not like I wanted any either."_

(Who can say  
why your heart sighs  
as your love flies?

Only time

And who can say  
why your heart cries

when your love lies?

Only time.)

XXXXXXXX

Maxie had said she would never regret going with him. He feared that wasn't true- that regrets would stalk them for all the days of their lives from now on- but he was willing to risk that.

She was still asleep, lost in her dreams, when his cell phone rang.

"Three."

"I can't help you anymore, One."

"I heard you turned tail and ran like a coward. Sonny is highly irate. It's quite amusing, actually."

"You're twisted. The way you enjoy messing with people's lives..."

"You didn't mind it when we were robbing the hotel. You were a good little solider that night. Come back and be one again. I could still use your connections inside the police department."

"Find someone else. I'm finished with you, Sonny, and that town."

"I expected more but then again I had my suspicions you weren't the type to be able to last much longer in this game we're playing."

"Well, enjoy your game. This pawn has left the board."

Jerry laughed. "Not quite yet, but soon."

"I'm out. I'm gone. You and Sonny keep this up much longer and you'll both end up in early graves."

"Not before you, though."

Cooper felt a cold chill come over his body.

Jerry went on, "You see, mate, I always take out insurance. You shouldn't have accepted that drink from me the other day. There's a nice lethal dose of poison running through your veins right now and if you don't get the antidote in three hours you'll be dead. Would have told you sooner but you left without even saying good bye. Bad manners, really. Now I suggest you high tail it back here and go back to being my eyes and ears at the police station. Hope you are not too far from home."

"You're lying."

"See you soon or in hell. You choose." Jerry hung up.

Cooper let the phone slip from his hand. His eyes darted back over to Maxie again. They had been on the road ten hours, driving faster than the speed limit the whole time. He had a headache and felt bone tired but he attributed that to the stress of the day.

There was no way to get back to Port Charles in time to save himself, if Jerry was telling the truth. He pulled over at the first hotel he saw, parked the car, and walked around to Maxie's door.

He lifted her out, and her eyes fluttered open. "Hey, there, why are we stopping?"

Leaning close to her, his voice low and tear choked, Cooper Barret told Maxie Jones the truth. "Cause I want to make love to you."

Later, in their room, he held her naked body close to him and made sure to keep his eyes off the clock. His breathing became shallow. She was asleep again. He kissed her head.

_"I've been prepared to die since the war..." _he had once told Sonny.

That was true then. But now- here with this woman he loved with his whole soul- Cooper wasn't ready to leave this earth yet.

Still, he knew, you don't die when you're ready. You die when it is your time.

He hated to let go of her for even a second but he crawled from the bed anyway and wrote a few letters- to Logan, his mom, his aunt, the father he never met, to the cops, and to her, his only love in life.

Then he curled up next to Maxie once more, as he gasped for air and fought off the panic that was starting to take over. He prayed she didn't wake up till morning." So sorry, baby. You deserved better..."

He was surprised how this felt. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it might, not in his body. It was his mind that caused the agony, as image after image of the life he had wanted to give her flashed behind his eyes.

The face a blue eyed little boy with her smile kept coming back over and over, then Maxie wearing a wedding dress, him carrying her over a threshold, them both walking on a beach fifty years from now, his infant son smiling, Maxie kissing Cooper in the rain on some perfect summer day that he would never see now.

Each word was choked out as he felt himself losing the final battle of his life,  
"Love...you...always...Maxie...always..."

_I'll see you again, baby, one day._

(_Who can say  
when the roads meet  
that love might be  
in your heart?_

_And who can say  
when the day sleeps  
if the night keeps  
all your heart?_

_Night keeps, all your heart...  
Who knows - only time_

_Who knows -_ _only time_...)

**THE END**

Note- I rarely write tragedies but for this challenge contest I wanted to go for maximum emotional impact.


	2. Fly Away, Love

**Note- I am hesitant to add to this story but I will give it a try.**

**A follow up from Maxie's POV.**

**Fly Away, Love- the sequel to For a Time.**

Her eyes were not even open yet, but she knew.

Somewhere deep inside of her, Maxie Jones already knew the end of her story. Like a movie stuck on fast forward it flashed in black and white through her mind: a baby boy crying for his father, a little house that was always too quiet, a beach where she walked alone, single footprints in the sand, their child racing around the park at three, four, five, ten and a bed that she slept in alone every night until she could take no more and then anyone at all would do.

Jerking her eyes open, her head rested on him. She watched his chest to make sure Cooper was breathing. Just to reassure herself that she was wrong.

They were on the run but together, and they would stay that way because he loved her. Never before- when other men said that- did she truly believe it. But with Cooper she did. He loved her. It had to be true. He didn't lie. He was better than her and wouldn't ever lie about such a thing.

His chest wasn't moving. Her hand slid up his body and with shaking fingers she searched for a pulse.

Somewhere, she knew, there was someone who was thinking _"That Maxie Jones is getting what she deserves." _She feared that someone was God.

(_Spend all your time waiting  
for that second chance  
for a break that would make it okay_

_  
There's always a reason  
to feel not good enough  
and it's hard at the end of the day_

_  
I need some distraction  
oh beautiful release  
memory seeps from my veins_)

Her fingers pressed on his throat. Then, in an instant, she became frantic. "Coop, Coop, Cooper, baby, hey..." She got on her knees next to him.

The color was nearly gone from his face. Her mouth moved to his, kissing and breathing into him all at once, but there was no response from him. "You're okay, Cooper. You're fine...wake up...what happened?"

Did his heart give out? Did it just stop like she worried every day hers would? How could his heart stop when she was in his arms, when she was in love with him, when she would do anything to keep it beating.

Soon she was on the phone to the front desk. "You have to help me. My boyfriend...something happened to him...I need a DOCTOR, NOW...please, please, hurry...I don't think he's breathing."

She collapsed onto his chest, pressing her ear against him to try and hear his heartbeat. Nothing.

But he was warm. He wasn't blue. He couldn't be gone yet. She had only been to sleep a little while and in her dream he was saying "_Love...you...always...Maxie...always_..."

There was no reason to live if Cooper was gone. She wanted to be with him...not left behind, not again. She couldn't bear that. He swore he wanted to take her with him. Her eyes shot to the window of the room. How many floors up were they? Could she jump and be with Cooper again?

For him to lift his arms and hold her close, that would be heaven to her right now.

(_Let me be empty  
and weightless and, maybe,  
I'll find some peace tonight._

In the arms of an angel,  
fly away from here.

_  
From this dark cold hotel room  
and the endlessness that you fear._

_  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
of your silent reverie._

_  
You're in the arms of the angel._

_May you find some comfort there._)

_Knock. Knock. _

She gripped Cooper's hand. Bending close to his ear she whispered, "I will not live without you. You're the only good part of me."

_KNOCK. _

Maxie jumped up, twisted a sheet around herself and yanked open the door. The hotel staff flooded in and only two minutes later paramedics were there.

It fell on a stranger she didn't know to pronounce Cooper's condition to her. He said it in a short blast of words, in a rapid fire unattached tone, "Pulse weak and thready. Respiration increased and shallow . We need to move this man, now. On three...one, two..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

**HOURS LATER**

Maxie Jones sat in the waiting room in some hospital in some state that she couldn't recall the name of right now- but she must know it for she told her sister when she called her. Didn't she? Right now, she could only remember that yes, she made the call and yes, she said the only think that mattered: Come now.

In her hands were letters Cooper wrote the night before, now stained by her sweat and tears. His words swirled around in her mind.

_...I could say that working with Craig was the worst choice I ever made. But I never would because that decision led me to you, Maxie. I've been living on borrowed time since the war. You get the feeling when your number is about to be up and I had it for a while now. Still I'm grateful it happened like this, and not back in Iraq, because now I've kissed you. Don't mourn me, celebrate. Celebrate our love. You made me feel more alive in the few months I knew you then all the years that came before. I trust you, with all I am, and I know you won't let me down. Cry a little then stop, and live- for both of us. I have to ask you a favor, too. It will seem like a lot right now but I know you can handle it. Take care of Logan for me, and let him take care of you. I won't be far. I would never leave you behind. But don't wait for me. Just live and know that, wherever I am, I'm still in love with you..._

She clutched the letter to her. The doctors had told her that Cooper was poisoned. She knew just who must have done it. His former boss- One, Craig, Jerry- his name didn't matter, he wouldn't need one by the time Maxie was through with him.

(_So tired of the straight line  
and everywhere you turn_

_there's vultures and thieves at your back._

_  
The storm keeps on twisting._

_  
You keep on building the lie  
that you make up for all that you lack._

_  
It don't make no difference_.)

The minutes clicked away on the clock on the wall. Each one was an eternity. She felt cold, and more alone that she thought was possible. She expected to see her own fingers start to turn blue, her own skin start to lose it's color, her own heart- B.J's heart- to finally slow down and then just still.

She knew what dying felt like. It was the living she had never been able to figure out.

XXXXXXXXXXX

**HOURS LATER**

Maxie didn't move a muscle when she heard the running down the hallway. But she knew who it was. The one person that would run to help her, save her, protect her- no matter what awful thing she ever did-...the one person besides Cooper.

Georgie didn't ask any questions when she skidded into the room, followed by Mac, she only scooped Maxie up out of her seat and hugged her tightly. Into her ear, so low that their father never heard it, Georgie whispered "Logan went after Craig."

Time moved slowly in that room, the sisters separated and Maxie was pulled into an embrace by Mac. Only then did she let out a howl of anguish as her knees buckled and her father had to grip her tightly just to keep her upright. He used to be the only man on earth to make her feel safe but today it didn't work.

She needed Cooper. Only Cooper could save her now. Without him, she wanted to stop eating, thinking, living, breathing. She wanted to live with him or die with him.

"Shhh," Mac whispered "Shhhh, it's going to be okay."

"Not without Cooper it won't." Her hands beat against his back, as she raged at this world that she hated. This world that stole away B. J., Jesse, Tony...and, in a different way, her parents...but left her behind.

She wanted to fall into the blackness with all of them...to not be here struggling anymore. She wanted to kiss Cooper again. Just one more kiss. One more time to hear him say _"I should leave you behind but I can't...I can't...I could never leave you behind..."_

(_Escaping one last time  
it's easier to believe_

_in this sweet madness, oh,  
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees_) 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**HOURS LATER**

She wasn't supposed to be on the roof of the hospital. It was against the rules. Georgie refused to come with her for that very reason. Instead she kept Mac busy down in the cafeteria getting coffee.

Georgie had begged Maxie not to go but, in the end, covered for her when she did.

Maxie had to be here right now. There was nothing she could do for Cooper, but this, so here she stood. She looked over the edge. For so many years, Maxie fought death with one hand and pulled it closer with the other. The drugs. The recklessness. Fast cars. Bad boys. Party after never ending party. She knew it was all risky...it was all what made her feel alive though...and if she was going to die she wanted to go out like that. Not this. Not feeling empty and numb.

Was it too late for her already? She feared that for years now. Since Kyle. It felt too late to save her. Was she going through this motions only to end up back at the same place? She had never been a hopeful woman, she left that particular emotion on an operating room table when she was a very small girl.

The sound of the helicopter filled the air. A moment later the doors to the roof were pushed open and woman in a white lab coat ran out. She glanced at Maxie, with confusion in her eyes and motioned for her to back away from the ledge and duck.

The blades of the helicopter slashed through the air, the engine roared so loud that all other sound was drowned out.

Logan jumped off the helicopter, carrying a briefcase. He immediately passed it to the doctor. He ran over to Maxie and, without a word, put his hand on her back and led her inside the elevator.

"Is there still time?" Logan asked

The doctor said "We'll do what we can."

Maxie was familiar with the horrible hospital speak all doctors were experts in. They never told you anything, until it was too late.

She had spent the day walking back and forth from the waiting room to Cooper's room. He was never alone in there. Doctors kept rushing in and out, trying this and that, till all their options ran out.

The elevator doors opened and the doctor rushed out. Logan and Maxie stepped out slowly, as if they were in a daze and walking was now a foreign concept.

Logan reached out to hug her, but she pushed him away. The action was harsh and yelled _You aren't him! You can't fix me!_

His hand gripped her arm, hard, she stilled. He was more like her than anyone she met before. Cold, calculating, able to kill, to ruin, to destroy without any hesitation. And he was the only one she knew who needed Cooper nearly as bad as her.

Logan narrowed his eyes at her, titled his head, and silently let her know _We are in this together. I'm not giving up and you can't either. Don't you dare betray him and act like he is already dead_.

He slowly brought her into a hug. Maxie, through tears, choked out "Did you take care of that bastard?"

"You know I did."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maxie sat between Logan and Georgie in the hospital chapel. Candles burned in front of them. Her sister held her hand, squeezing desperately as if she was trying to latch Maxie to this life and not let her float away into the next.

Maxie begged :

_Breathe for me, Cooper. One breath at a time. Keep fighting. Stay here. Don't fly away, my love. Don't give in. I need you more than you know. I can't do this without you. Logan will never be you, not to me. I'll become everything I fear without you, and so will he. He'll fall into a bottle. I'll wreck myself somehow...I dreamed about having your baby last night...I want that baby, Coop. I want you. I need you both...stay and give me that future only you can. Breathe for me...breathe..._..

Logan stood up. He was still for a long moment, then walked over to the alter and dropped to his knees.

Three heads bowed, they prayed, and time clicked on some more. Until Mac stepped into the room, "Honey."

Maxie's eyes jerked over to meet her father's. The answer was there on his face.

(_In the arms of an angel  
fly away from here,  
from this dark cold hotel room  
and the endlessness that you fear._

_  
You are pulled from the wreckage  
of your silent reverie._

_  
You're in the arms of the angel.  
May you find some comfort there._

_  
You're in the arms of the angel.  
May you find some comfort here.) ( Sarah McLachlan)  
_

XXXXXX

**YEARS LATER**

She walked through the park in Port Charles, holding the hand of a four year old blue eyed boy. Whenever he laughed or smiled, Maxie saw herself. He would be a force to be reckoned with one day.

But whenever her son was quiet, studying something intently -whether it be a bug or his dinner or a book about dinosaurs- she saw his father.

"Want to swing!"

"Sure. Go ahead."

He ran off and she watched him with a smile on her face. It was odd to think she was this woman now. This soccer mom. No, she wasn't without her vices, her insecurities that caused her to be a little more bitter than her sister would ever be, but she had grown up over the years since her days of scheming, of scamming, of hating everything and everyone.

Cooper changed her.

"Hey," a deep voice said from behind her.

She turned and gave Logan a roll of her eyes. "You're late. Like usual, loser."

He smiled. "But you knew I would be late so it doesn't count."

"Oh, is that how it works?" She laughed. "Okay. Well, your nephew could use someone to push him on the swings? Could you handle that or is it too complicated for your little brain?"

"I'll manage somehow." He bent down and kissed her cheek before heading over to the swing set. Little Bobbie Barret squealed in delight as he spotted him.

Maxie stood there with a small smile on her face as she watched them. She thought back to the Metro Court hostage crisis...to a vault...to Three. Man, she had loved him from the start. Instant lust, and devotion, and loyalty. She would have done anything to keep him with her after that night.

But all he wanted her to do was love him. It was simple and something she always felt she pulled off well, better than anyone else could, in fact.

"Baby."

Her head whipped around and she saw him walking towards her. Without a moments hesitation she was flying across the park and throwing herself into his arms. He spun her around.

"I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow," Maxie said

"The stakeout ended early."

"Thank God," she breathed out. "I missed you."

"Oh yeah?"

"You know I can't sleep without you, Cooper."

His blue eyes lit up. Even after all this time, she knew, he still was amazed by her. She didn't think she was anything worth him loving as much as he did, but he never agreed with that. He loved her like she was the only woman on earth worthy of him. He saw all her ugliness, he saw her at her absolute worst, and loved her through it all.

Leaning down, his lips pressed against hers. It was a simple kiss, just a brush as light as angles wings, but it was all she needed to survive this world.

Their son ran over, circling his parents, and then Cooper lifted him up. He nodded at Logan.

Maxie listened to her son chat excitedly with his father while she thought back to how it could have all gone.

Her eyes met Logan's. They knew they were lucky. Cooper came back to save them both, from this horrible, evil world, and from themselves. He might have believed they could make it without him but he was more optimistic than they could ever be. He believed the best in both of them. But they knew the truth...Cooper was the one really good part of them...and if he had died they would have both ruined themselves as quickly as they could, to get back to him.

She moved her eyes to her husband. She mouthed, "Love you."

Without saying a word aloud, Maxie heard Cooper respond, "_Love you always, Maxie. Always_._"_

THE END

_Note- I didn't see the point in a sequel just to leave Cooper dead. Though it could be done, it would be too depressing to me. Hope you liked this ending._

_Sara_


End file.
